Pumping and Carb Counting Supplies

[Schmoop]

My 8-year-old stepson just started using the Animus pump.  My husband and I don't get to have as much exposure to the pump on a regular basis, as he lives with his mother.  The way I deal with new situations is to learn as much as I can and do everything possible to be prepared.  I am looking for some type of electronic, hand-held carb counter that has a library of foods pre-programmed into it.  I would like it to be able to plug in the portion size and have it calculate the total carbs. Plus, I'd like to be able to add foods to it.  Although his pump can do some of this already, I'd like to have a separate calculator that isn't attached to his body.

I would also like to get a dry/liquid measuring set and a kitchen scale for home use.  I'm looking for something that is functional and compact (not a set of 10 different cups). Any suggestions?

Lastly, I'd like to buy him some boxer shorts for bedtime or other kid-friendly but fashionable gear for pumpers.  Any good ideas there?

[JDRF-Team-BL]

Dear schmoop,
     i am not a doctor just another diabetic trying to help from my experiences. i only a Minimed 508 pump, which is an old pump by today's standards. i have never see an electronic carb counter and i belong to the ADA and get their magazin Diabetes Forecast and have never see one advertised there, though that doesn't mean they aren't available. i do my carb counting from books and after a while you get to remember your favorite foods and the carbs per serving.
    i recommend getting a set of four measuring cups: 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 and one full cup. and also a regular glass liquid measuring cup, which can hold two full cups.i find this more than adequate.
     The boxers will be fine as anything that the pump can clip onto is great. Hope this helps, bret

[JDRF-Team-LRS]

I agree with BL that we can clip our pumps to just about anything.  Some folks sew "pump pockets" into a spot on their clothing that is comfy to wear.

If your s'son typically sleeps on his back, for example, the might like the pump pocket on lower edge of the boxer front.  Clothing with pump pockets are available at specialty places, but it's sooo much less expensive and quite easy just to sew a pocket where he needs 'em.  They can sewn onto the inside of clothing for day wear.

There are online carb/calorie counting sites taht you might try out.  I've heard others talk about CalorieKing, but I'm not personally familiar with that site.

Hope this helps. Your s'son is lucky to have you learning so much.  He may not express for a long time, but the seeds you're sowing *will* blosssom :-)

[Shotokan]

You should visit www.calorieking.com

You can use 1) the online database for free, 2) buy their book, 3) purchase their 45,000 food database for download to your PC, or 4) purchase their food database for download to a PDA.  You can get a free trial of the databases for download. I have the PDA version, which costs $20.

The database is comprehensive, with nutritional information for food you buy from the grocery store as well as food you buy in restaurants.

[JDRF Team SGG]

You can also become quite the mathematician by reading the labels on all packaged foods and adding up the totals. So keep a small hand-held calculator in a kitchen drawer along with some scratch paper and a pen. I find that this is perfectly adequate for my own careful carb-counting. At times, when I don't want to go rooting back into my pantry for the original package of a snack food, I empty the foods into decorative canisters and just cut out the carb content area of label and drop it in a plastic sandwich bag to place in the canister for easy access when my glucose is low. Then I can just grab a few Fig Newtons and glance at the carb content when I need a snack, without having to go rummaging through my pantry. I have been a type 1 diabetic for 36 years and I, too, am not aware of any automatic couning gadget. The calculator and scratch pad may be your best option.

In addition to knowing the carb content of foods you prepare, you may also want to know that foods high in fats or protein digest more slowly than fat-free carbohydrates. If the youngster is low, you DON'T want to give him a cookie or candy bar, for they digest much slower than simple Gatorade (the fastest-digested liquid) or juice, and he may actually feel worse or get worse if low while waiting for that food to digest. I also have noticed that if my meal is of foods with high-fat content, such as pizza, the quick-acting insulin will peak to do its job before the food completely digests. The result can be a suprising low an hour or two after eating pizza or french fries, followed by a surprising high reading hours later when the food completely digests. If you know that this is a possibility, the best way to handle it is to do 2 smaller boluses -- one at the time of the meal, and one several hours later to catch the slower-digesting foods. Obviously the best solution is to avoid the high-fat foods altogether if he is on the low side of normal at mealtime, for they just may not digest quickly enough to prevent a low when the insulin action peaks. Many people are not told about the effect of fats and proteins on the digestion time of carbohydrates that we eat. So I tell you this not to complicate your routine, but so you won't be taken by surprise if it happens to this young man.

[Carolynjuvenillediabetic]

Hi Schmoop
As far as you question regarding clothing for pump users there is a great website for this. The address is www.pumpwearinc.com.
They have some great itmes for kids. Glad to see you are paying so much attention to his needs. I agree he will be very thankful as he gets older!!!
Carolyn

[Schmoop]

Thank you to all for your quick replies and your words of encouragement.  I don't think there was a single posting that I didn't take something from.  I will definitely get the measuring cups recommended, I've ordered a few things from Pump Wear, Inc., I have downloaded the trial version of CalorieKing to my PC (which looks very comprehensive and I'll probably get the PDA version) and as luck would have it, I read the posting on Combo Boluses right before the pizza delivery guy showed up on my doorstep with our dinner last night!

One thing I have determined after this weekend is; we will definitely need to work with the Endo to set up or own Basal/Bolus program for our weekends with him as his normal routine is giving him too much insulin compared with the amount of activity he gets when he's with us.  It's wonderful that the pump offers so much flexibility.  I'm in love with it! Now, all we need is a cure.  Again, thank you for all of your support. I look forward to sharing my knowledge with others one day too.

---Schmoop

[Abbes]

I think it's great that you want to make sure that you know all you can for your (step)son.  I am using the pump and I know that it has helped me stay a bit more active.  That is to say not have to rush home for shots.  But clothing will be an issue.  You should check out pumpwearinc.

As the child wants to do sports or any activites you are going to run into this issue.  Baseball pants just don't have good places for the pump to sit!

I know in my clothes I sew hidden pockets in them to hold my pump. My husband and I have an acting troop and so anything that I am going to wear we make sure that it has the "pockets" on both sides of my costumes so that no mattter what side my pump is on I have a place to put it.  (We re-enact the Renassiance and Civil War and seeing my pump just would NOT due!)

As for counting the carbs.  Your best bet will be that you will just "learn them" like you did in school with your times tables.  Depending on the relationship with the child's mother you might want to ask her the next time the child goes to the doctor to pick you up a carb counter booklet.  Or you can call the doctor yourself, not knowing the details of the arrangements this might be better.

Getting to know what the child likes to eat will help alot!  You also might want to see if you and your husband can take the child to his next appointment.  If that's possible then you can talk with the doctor and/or the nurse to see what you can do to help. It also might be a time where you can get a quick education on how to use his pump in case of an emergency or just to "check-up" on him.

Hope this helps.  

[genashep]

We are looking for a pump for my 4 year old daughter. We went to pump day and got to play with 3 different kind of pumps. The animus was one of them. The new one that they have out now the 1250 has the calorie king food list program on it. It has options for you to find the food that he will be eating. I am in the process in ordering one for my daughter right now. Good luck.

[PumpMan]

There are numerous electronic calorie/carb food databases.

One designed specifically for diabetics is the Track 3: http://www.coheso.com/track-d.html

See several at Amazon, including the regular (non-diabetic) sister of the Track 3:
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=electronic+carb+counter&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=1098599141&ref=pd_sl_s5auhv5bb_b

[triskit82]

just wanted to add, that for sleeping, I find it more comfortable to wear a leg strap. I tend to change positions a lot, and I'm quite thin, so having the pump around my waist hips can be painful and wakes me up at night.

I have two leg straps one that I can wear around my calf, just below my knee...this fits great under my yoga pants, when I'm teaching dance and yoga classes, and another that goes on the thigh, which I can wear under dresses etc. Both of them I use for sleeping and it's so much more comfortable.